5 Ways the New HTC One Could Beat the Galaxy S5

The Samsung Galaxy S4 is currently the top smartphone around when it comes to Android devices, but a close second in terms of popularity is the impressive HTC One.

As we all know by now, Samsung is preparing to announce and reveal its brand new Galaxy S5 Monday the 24th in Spain and New York City, and the latter HTC One successor isn’t set to make its debut until March 25th. That being said, we know nearly everything about these two devices already, especially the often leaked HTC M8, so read on to find out a few key features we think HTC will offer that can beat out the competition.

Samsung’s Galaxy S5 hasn’t leaked in the flesh, and all we’ve seen thus far are a few leaks and mock-ups, so anything is possible at the moment. However, countless reports and rumors from Bloomberg and other sources have already given us a pretty clear idea of what to expect once the device is announced.

Samsung could have a few tricks up its sleeve to surprise consumers and beat the competition, but given all the details we know about the upcoming S5, and the often leaked HTC One (2014) here’s a few areas we think HTC will bring home the gold.

Build Quality

Like the iPhone 5s, the HTC One arrived in 2013 and surprised many with a new and fresh design. The build quality was stunning coming in a lightweight and durable aluminum shell, and the overall quality and design was top notch. From a sleek aluminum bezel wrapping around to quality front facing speakers, it received high praises and was generally well-received and reviewed.

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The debate whether plastic vs aluminum or metal will always be present as long as Samsung continues to launch devices made from cheap plastics, but this could be the first year they take a different approach. Many love plastic designs from Samsung for the lightweight factor, they’re indestructible and don’t scratch like aluminum, and it allows for an easier design to accommodate removable storage and battery options.

However, many are expecting a radical new design from Samsung with the Galaxy S5, whether that be aluminum or the faux leather design from the Note 3. Either way, we have a feeling HTC will still win, being carried by the already impressive and successful HTC One from last year. We’ve seen countless leaks of the new design for this years phone, and it’s just as impressive as the model before it.

Front Facing Speakers

Speaking of design, the HTC One has the best on-board speakers of any smartphone to date. Well, if you ask us. Coming with front facing Beats Audio powered “Boomsound” speakers, HTC delivered one of the best features and designs yet. Why have speakers on the back facing the wrong way? It makes no sense, Samsung corrected this on a few tablets, but for years has still put them on the rear of the smartphone.

While it’s hard to compare two devices that have yet to actually arrive, HTC’s successful One smartphone last year will ensure a successful and impressive launch with the All New HTC One in March. The speakers will be the same, if not better, and Samsung will likely stick to what they know.

Trying to fit a fingerprint scanner and a new design in the Galaxy S5 front, we can’t imagine front facing speakers also making the cut, but they need to if Samsung doesn’t want to lose potential customers to HTC. While we can’t compare the two without having them here, or knowing what to expect, HTC should still edge out Samsung and the S5 here, but we’ll have to wait and see.

Front Camera

There’s another aspect on the front of the All New HTC One (HTC M8) that will be impressive this year, that Samsung won’t be able to touch. And that is the front facing camera. All reports lead us to believe the HTC One will sport a stunning 5 megapixel front facing camera for awesome video chats, Google Hangouts, and selfie photos.

Samsung’s slowly added better front cameras, but all leaks and rumors still point back to a 3.2 megapixel front camera, while all the focus is on the company’s new 16 megapixel rear shooter. Again, Samsung could have some tricks up its sleeve, but the 5 megapixel front lens on the new HTC One should be rather impressive.

Software

Less is more comes to mind when thinking about the software on these two flagship smartphones. HTC has its Sense user interface that has plenty of fans, as well as a few pros and cons, but Samsung is in the same boat with the TouchWiz “user experience” software. Sammy usually bloats its phones with S-features, apps, airview gesture controls and other things. Most are quite nice, like eye tracking to scroll down pages, but most drain the battery and end up getting turned off by the end user.

HTC has slowly been perfecting and polishing the Sense UI, all while adding useful features instead of more bloatware. Blinkfeed for social and news aggregation is one example, and HTC Zoe camera video highlights is another. Both are features many owners love, use almost daily, and can enjoy. We’re not saying people don’t use features from the Galaxy S4 or Note 3, but most are more gimmicky than useful.

That all being said, we’ve heard Samsung and Google struck a licensing deal that had new rules for Samsung to tone down the changes to Android, so we could see a radically improved and more simple experience on the Galaxy S5 with Android 4.4 KitKat.

Dual Cameras

The camera situation on both the Galaxy S5 and new HTC One will be a tight one. Samsung’s opting for a new 16 megapixel sensor with an improved flash system, and tons of other options, while HTC is sticking with the 4 Ultrapixel camera. It will be heavily improved from last year, but the difference is a second “dual sensor” camera on the back.

The all new HTC One will have two cameras on the back, and not for 3D video. Instead we’re hearing this Lytro-like lens will allow for multiple points of focus, tons of post-processing, and seriously improved low-light photography performance. Of course, we’ll have to test it ourselves, but the original HTC One had an excellent camera, as did the S4, and we’re expecting both to rock something even better in 2014.

These are just a few areas where we could see HTC coming out ahead, not to mention the all new HTC One this year will finally have a micro-SD slot for expanding storage, something that’s been limited to Samsung in the US as of late. These two devices will be amongst the most popular smartphones of 2014, and we’ll know everything about them both in the coming days and weeks.

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Stay tuned as Gotta Be Mobile will be live come Monday, February 24th with the all-new Galaxy S5, and we’ll be sure to get plenty of pictures and video to compare it with the competition. Both devices are expected to arrive in the beginning weeks of Q2, which means a likely April release date.

Comments

I think you love HTC, so you wrote this strange points. Samsung will change a lot in its TouchWiz. But I believe that HTC will lose many costumers because Samsung will start selling the S5 before all new HTC one announcement.

I still don’t get why the “plastic vs. metal casing” debate goes on. I’m a fan of the plastic casing on the Samsung phones for one major reason; I’m not staring at a cracked screen like 90% of the people I know who have iPhones. Dropping a phone is a very common occurence. I was actually present when a buddy of mine brought his 4s out of his pocket after only having it two days and dropped it a whopping three feet. He stuck his foot out to break the fall. The phone hit off his shoe and fell the remaining 6 inches…..cracked screen. Gee, who would have thought that a heavier metal framing wouldn’t make a suitable shock absorber to a glass screen? I’ve owned the first galaxy S phone and the GS3 for a total of 4 years andnever had a problem with the plastic casing. It doesn’t affect performance at all so I’m not sure why it’s always brought up as an issue.

Coming frm s4 to HTC one, I know one thingfor sure, when it comes to quality n performance Samsung is miles behind.. they still live in the ages of hangs n lags n poor synlight visibility n the list is long.. heating, etc.. Once I hv used the HTC I just can’t go back to those devices..

Those “gimmicks” although not ‘everyday’ features, can come in very handy when you have both of your hands full or your fingers are just plain too messy or sticky to handle your phone as an important call is coming in…so tell me SPECIFICALLY how the G2, apart from having a slightly better processor, or any other smartphone is better than the S4.

I bought an S4 for my personal phone and my work asked me to get my own work phone so I got a HTC One. I actually use the HTC One much more, not because I work more but because it simply is the better phone. It’s looks so much better and it just is better to use with the blinkfeed pretty handy and none of the rubbish bloatware. The funny thing is; at the end of the day my HTC One has about 22% battery remaining, my S4 is completely flat at 0% even though I use my One more! The only two things I don’t like about the HTC One is the position of the power button and the lack of storage expansion. I love the Zoey feature but the file sizes are absolutely massive so I have to keep backing the images off my phone. I’ve always been a Samsung man, S1, S2, S3 LTE and the S4. Not a single one of them had a premium feel about them. I was praying that the S5 wouldn’t be the same plasticy cheap crap but yet again it’s the same plasticy crap. I don’t need a heart sensor and if I wanted a fingerprint sensor; I would have kept my Atrix. My next personal phone will either be a HTC M8 or the Sony Z2 which looks pretty smart. If you’re going to pay so much for a phone, is it too much to ask for it to look and feel like a premium purchase?

No one even dares to compare HTC with world’s leader in Smartphone. I like the features they have introduced in Galaxy S5 like water resistant body, improved battery they have claimed and finger touch sensors. I like the wireless charging feature in my Galaxy S4 don’t know if this is also added in Galaxy S5 or not?
Well the main thing I want to say is HTC Golden days in this world of android dominated Smartphone are gone now. Hope the Taiwanese tech giant will recover to get number 1 position which they earlier had.

Things that I love an don’t love about both. Camera winner will end the war. But how is it that you failed to mention S5 is waterproof/water resistant! The scariest thing about the speakers on the HTC is the idea of spilling water in them. BUT then you have Samsung with a speaker on the back which is USELESS for speakerphone. If I get a phone that scans my fingerprints, it’s NOT going to be samsung. Hackers will get it, eventually. If they’re gonna scan my fingerprint, might as well get the best camera (iPhone). Currently have an S4 and I’m very disappointed with it. Ideal phone: A waterproof HTC one, just as light as any other phone, with SD card slot… and a better cam than an iPhone or Nokia Lumia, in a 5″ or SMALLER package.